Kingdom Hearts: A New Adventure With the Keyblade
by Cassie Sterling
Summary: When Riku becomes the Keyblade Master, his friends, Sora and Kairi, vanish. Can Riku's newfound friends, Leon and Cloud, help him find his friends? Please R&R!
1. Arc 1: The Key and Leon

Kingdom Hearts: A New Legend with the Keyblade  
By: Cassie Sterling  
Chapter 1: Destiny Islands-The Beginning of a New Legend  
Riku tags Sora. "Last one to the Star Tree loses!" He takes off.  
"Hey! No fair!" Sora runs off after Riku.  
"I'm going to win!" said Riku. Sora runs faster trying to catch up. "No fair! You got a head start!"  
"Hey, I am too being fair. You're just slow, and when I tagged you was when it started." Riku runs and trips on something. "Oof!" Sora puffs cheeks.. "hmm...." Riku gets up. "What did I trip on anyway?" Sora looks. "A shell..."  
"Darn... You won."  
"Now tell me again about your plan to get off this island."  
"Well, we make a raft and sail outta here tomorrow morning."  
Kairi walks over to the two of them. "I knew I'd find you here."  
"Hi, Kairi."  
"We better get equpiment in order first before we set sail."  
"Right. What all are we missing still? And, does Tidus and the others know about our plan?" asked Riku.  
Sora shakes his head. "I don't think so... Do they, Kairi?"  
"Tidus said he'd wanted to come along, but the other two said they didn't want to leave."  
Riku nods. "They don't know what they're missing. Well, let's go get what we need so we'll be ready to leave first thing in the morning."  
"We need a sheet, cocunuts, an egg, some rope, and fish."  
"I'll get the fish, rope, and cocunuts."  
"Don't worry about the rope. Tidus got it."  
Sora nods. "I'll get the egg."  
"Sora, we need fresh water from the spring."  
"I'll get that also."  
"I guess I'm getting the sheet. We need some mushrooms or not?" asked Riku.  
Kairi nods. "Yea. That was the last thing on the list: Mushrooms."  
Riku nods. "I guess I'm getting those too." He grins and looks at Sora. "Race you to see who can get their stuff back here the fastest!" Sora pouts. "Awww... Do we have to?" Riku grins. "Come on... It's fun, Sora!" Sora smirks. "I'll be the one back first." Riku smirks. "Heh!" Riku takes off to get the stuff he's assigned to get. Sora goes gets the stuff he was assigned to get. Riku got the other items. Riku heads back. Sora waits for him. "Got the egg and the water." Riku makes a face. "How'd you get back so fast?" Sora grins. "Magic..."  
"Cheap."  
"Heh heh."  
"Well, let's get some rest. We've got a big day ahead of us tomorrow. Sora, you go on and tell Tidus, okay?" Sora nods. "Right."  
Riku goes to turn in, but early that evening, a storm besieges Destiny Islands. Sora looks out his window. *gasp* Riku looks too. "Shit! I'd better check up on the boat!" He heads outside. Sora slowly walks out from his house. Riku is heading to where the boat is. -Damn... I hope it's not smashed to pieces... Otherwise, we won't be going anywhere tomorrow...-  
Sora looks around. "Hmm.. Riku and Kairi must be at the boat.... I better go help..." Riku checks up on the boat. "Looks like the boat's okay... I wonder where Sora and Kairi got to? I hope they're okay..." He takes off looking for Sora and Kairi. Sora is standing on the bridge looking up. "What is that...." Riku's running. "Sora!" Riku runs to where Sora is. "Have you seen Kairi?" A glob of darkness engulfs Sora. "Rikuuuuuuu...." Riku is shocked. "Sora!"   
A key-shaped blade appears.....in Riku's hands. Riku blinks. "What's this?" Words are spoken around Riku. "Keyblade.. Keyblade..." Riku ponders what he's got now then suddenly realizes something. "I'd better see if Kairi's okay! Then we can go looking for Sora." Riku runs off and gets attacked by Shadows along the way to the secret place. "Ack! What are these things?!" He slices at them with the Keyblade. Riku makes it to the large door. "This wasn't here before..." He spots someone. "Kairi!"  
Kairi, looking like most of the life was drainned out of her somehow, looks at Riku. "Rikuuuuuuu...." Kairi disappears. Riku is shocked again. "Kairi!" Riku has to fight Darkside, but he wins, and he gets blown into another world. "Whoa!"  
  
Chapter 2: Traverse Town-A New Partner Appears  
Big flashy letters appear...Transverse Town.  
Riku slowly wakes up and looks around. "Where am I? Maybe someone can help me find my friends here..." Riku starts walking.... and bumps into Leon. "Oof! Hey! Watch it!" Leon looks at Riku. "Watch it, kid..." Leon looks at Riku's hands "The Keyblade." Riku blinks. "Yea... so?"  
"All right. Hand it over...."  
"No way!"  
"You don't know what you have... Lionheart!" Leon knocks out Riku. Riku gets hit. "Sora... Kairi... I've failed you..." *thud* Yuffie looks at Riku then at Leon. "I think you might have overdone it, Squall..." Leon looks slightly annoyed. "That's Leon..... Pick him up and take him to the Hotel..."  
"Gotcha..."  
Riku wakes up in a hotel room. "Where.. where am I?" Leon looks at Riku. "Do you know what power you carry with you...?" Riku shakes his head. "No... I only got it when the darkness enveloped my island home and took away my two best friends..." he sighs. Leon looks at what's in Riku's hands. "This has to be it. It has to be the Keyblade." Riku looks confused. "Keyblade?" Leon points to the Keyblade. "This sword that looks like a key." Riku blinks. "Whoa... So, what were those dark monsters that were attacking me then? And why were they attacking me?"  
"They want your heart and this blade." Riku is wide-eyed. "And I'm alone without friends," he sighs. Leon looks at Riku. "If you want, I can watch your back if needed." Riku nods. "Thanks. My name's Riku." Leon nods. "Name's Leon."  
"Well, any idea where we should start looking?"  
"Well let's check around here."  
"I wonder what those monsters are called anyway?"  
"Oh btw have you heard of a man called Ansem?" Riku shakes his head. "No." Leon goes into a long and boring story about Ansem's reports. Riku looks at Leon. "So, those enemies that attacked me are called the Heartless?" Leon nods. "Yes." More Heartless come into the room. "Uh-oh!" Riku gets the Keyblade ready. Leon looks at Yuffie. "Move, Yuffie! Get outta here!" Yuffie nods. "Gotcha!" Yuffie escapes. Leon looks at Riku. "Riku, come on!" Leon jumps out to the streets. Riku has to battle to escape cause he's surrounded by the Heartless. Riku jumps outta the window. "Here I come!"  
"LIONHEART!" Leon knocks out some Heartless. Riku attacks some more. "Where are they all coming from?"  
"I have no idea, kid..."  
"There must be some way they're getting inside!" They head into the Third District. Leon looks at Riku. "We should be safe...." Riku sighs. "When you say something like that, something bad ALWAYS follows." A rumbling can be heard. Leon looks up. "Hoo boy." Walls surround the duo as Heartless appear on the top of the wall. Riku looks at Leon. "See? I told you so." The Guard Armor appears. Riku looks at Leon. "Any idea how to whip its ass fast?" Leon nods. "You go for arms and legs. I'll cover the body."  
"Right!"  
Leon dashes in. "Ya ya ya!" *Clang!* "Come on!" *Clang!* "Take This!" *Clang!* "Come on!" *Clang!* Riku charges in and starts attacking getting critically hit in the process. "Ouch!" Leon looks at Riku. "Riku!" Leon uses Potion. "Thanks!" said Riku. Leon keeps on attacking. "Ya ya ya!" Riku keeps attacking the legs. Leon jumps and takes care of the arms. One of the arms bust. Leon looks at Riku. "Riku, go for the green colored orbs. They heal you."  
"Right!" Riku goes for them. "How are you holding out, Leon?"  
"All right. LIONHEART! YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Leon uses his special technique. The Guard Armor is finished. Riku leaps up into the air. "We did it!" Leon grins. "Yea!" Riku does a winning stance like Leon's. Leon spins his sword.  
"So, where to next?" asked Riku.  
"To see Cid."  
"Right."  
"He is a friend of mine who owns a Gummi Ship."  
Riku grins. "Sweet!" They head to go see Cid. Cid looks at Leon. "What can I do for you, Squall?" Leon looks annoyed. "Cid, you very well know it's Leon." Riku is slightly confused there. Leon sighs and looks at Riku. "Long story, kid."  
"Maybe you can tell me about it after we stop the Heartless then.... and finding my friends..." Cid looks at Riku. "Who's the kid?"  
"His name is Riku. Cid, we need to use the Highwind." Cid is curious. "What for, 'Leon'?" Leon sighs at Cid's sarcasm. "To get to other worlds and lock them asap." Cid nods. "I'll let you use it, but I am flying it." Riku nods. "Hopefully, we'll be able to find my friends as well..." Leon nods. "Right" Riku looks at Leon and Cid. "Any idea where to start?" Cid thinks. "What about the Collseum?" Riku nods. "Sounds good. Maybe there, I can practice up on my fighting skills a bit. Sora did best me a few times during our pratice sessions." Leon nods. "Well, let's go." Riku nods. "Right." They get into the Gummi Ship. 


	2. Arc 2: Cloud Strife

Chapter 3: To the Collseum! Cloud Appears!  
They arrive. Leon looks at Riku. "Well, I say we go look around." Riku nods. "Right." They walk into the Main Hall. Phil has his back to them. He thinks Hercules has come. "I'm glad you're here. Could ya move that stone for me?" Riku tries pushing on the stone. "It's too heavy..." Phil is surprised. "Too heavy!?" Riku nods. "Yea." Phil turns around. "Since when... Ohh.. Thought you were someone else.." Riku blinks. "Who? So, what's going on here anyway?"  
"I got stuck in charge of the tournaments. Heroes allowed... Heroes only... Sorry, kid." Riku's annoyed. "Hey, we're heroes. I've fought a lot of monsters, as has Leon there." Leon waves. "Hello." Riku looks at Phil. "So, can we enter?" Phil scratches his chin. "hmmm...You have to go through some tests first." Riku grins. "I'm ready for them!" The barrel tests begin. Riku passes each test. "I passed the test. So, can we enter?" Phil shakes his head. "Sorry, kid. You need an entry pass..." Riku pouts. "Great..." Leon sighs. "He's no help."   
They head out and see Hades. "So, you're wanting to enter that tournament, but goatboy won't let you enter without an entry pass? Well, look what I have right here..." He shows an entry pass to them. Leon looks at Riku. "I wouldn't trust him as far as I could throw him. Be on your toes, Riku." Riku nods. "Right." Hades looks at them. "Look, I'm not joshing you. Here. You can have it. You want to enter those games, right?" Leon looks at Riku. Leon looks at Hades. "What's the catch?" Hades looks at them. "Nothing, nothing. Just show that goatboy how good you are. That's all."  
"I'm still not to sure about these.... but okay. Riku, take 'em." Riku takes them. "Let's go show them to that Satyr so we can get into the games!" Leon nods. "Right" They head into the Collseum's main lobby. Phil looks at them. "Look I told you..." Riku shows him the entry pass. Phil is surprised. "Where did you get that?" Riku looks at Phil. "A friend gave us it. Does this mean we can enter the tournament?" Phil nods slowly. "Yes it does." Riku grins. "All right!"  
They enter into the arena. Riku notices what they're fighting. "Heartless!" Leon thinks. "Hmm... This is odd... Very odd." Riku nods. "Yea... Let's just kick 'em really hard and get this over with!" Leon nods. "Right." Riku dashes in and slashes some of the Heartless with the Keyblade. "Leon! Behind you!" Leon whirls. "FIRE!" Heartless get fried. Riku whistles. "Nice." Leon smiles. "Thanks."  
Several rounds later... Riku and Leon are still winning. Hades is watching and talking to someone in the shadows. Hades looks into the shadows. "Cloud, get your tail in there!" Cloud comes into view. "Yea, what do you want?" Hades is annoyed at Cloud's attitude. "Move! Fight THEM!!!!" Flames leap from Hades' head. Cloud looks a bit surprised. "The great god of the Underworld is afraid of a kid?" Hades looks at Cloud. "We have a deal, Cloud..." Hades holds up a contract. Cloud looks at it. "Yea, but it says I'm only supposed to kill Hercules. Where's it say I have to kill a kid anyway?" Hades snaps his fingers, and a new line appears. "There." Cloud looks disgusted. "Just what has that kid done to you anyway?"  
"NO QUESTIONS. JUST MOVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"  
Cloud heads off. "All right, all right...." -Something's up with that guy...- Hades glowers. "I'll make sure if he fails I have a back up plan." He whistles. "Here, Cerebrus. Here boy." Cerebrus comes. Evil laughter. "MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"  
Riku looks at Phil. "So, who's our next opponent?" Leon looks at Phil. "Phil..." Cloud comes into the arena. Phil looks worried. "Him..." Riku looks awed. "Whoa...." Leon points the Gunblade towards Cloud. "All right, Pal.... You're going down!" Cloud hefts his Buster Sword. "We'll see about that..." Leon casts Fire. "FIRE!!!" A fireball shoots towards Cloud. Cloud dodges. "Hey!" Riku hits Cloud with the Keyblade and nails him with a combo. Cloud hits Riku with Sonic Blade. Riku gets hit. "Ahhh!" Leon attacks with Lionheart. Cloud hits Leon with Omnislash. Leon gets hit. "unnghh...."  
"Leon!"  
Leon uses Cure. "CURE." Riku uses Hi-Potion on himself. Leon looks at Riku. "Riku, together we'll attack!" Cloud uses Omnislash on Riku. Riku is nearly KO'ed. Leon looks at Riku. "Riku! CURE!" Leon heals Riku. Riku looks at Leon. "Thanks!" Riku looks ready. "Let's take him, Leon!" Leon casts Ice. "ICE!" Riku casts Fire. "Fire!" Cloud gets hit. "Ungh!" Cloud falls to his knees. "How... How could I be beaten...." Riku twirls the Keyblade. "That's the power of the Keyblade!"  
  
Chapter 4: Cloud Betrayed! Team United!  
Hades looks pissed. "CLOUD! YOU'VE FAILED ME FOR THE LAST TIME!" Riku looks around. "What the?!" Cloud looks pissed at Hades. "What?!" Hades sends out Cerebrus. "GET THEM, CEREBRUS!!" Cloud is weakened. Riku looks at Leon. "We've gotta help him!" Leon nods. "Right..." Riku looks at Leon. "I'll distract Cerebrus. You heal Cloud!" Riku runs in front of Cerebrus. "Nah, nah! You can't get me!" Cerebrus goes after Riku. Riku looks at Leon while he's leading Cerebrus away. "Go on and heal him, Leon! Then we can take Cerebrus together!" Leon looks annoyed. "Well that wasn't what I was thinking." Cloud blinks. "Huh?" Leon walks over to Cloud. "I am gonna regret this... Cure!" Cloud looks at Leon. "How come you helped me when I tried to kill you?" Leon looks a bit annoyed at Cloud. "That's not important now. Get your bum off of the ground and help!" Cloud nods and stands up. "Hades tricked me... Now I think it's time to pay him back... by defeating Cerebrus!" Leon runs over and help Riku. "FIRE!!!" Cloud follows. "Thunder!" Riku rolls to avoid some dark fire spit by Cerebrus. "Whoa!" Cloud uses Omnislash on Cerebrus!  
Within a few minutes, Cerebrus was down. Riku grins. "Whew! That was close! Thanks again, Cloud. Why'd you work with Hades anyway?" Cloud sighs. "I'm looking for someone... Hades promised to help. I tried to exploit the powers of darkness, but it backfired. I fell into darkness, and I couldn't find the light." Riku nods. "Hey, why don't you come along with us? Maybe you'll find who you're looking for. I know how you feel, because two of my friends were taken by the darkness just before our world was destroyed." Cloud nods slowly. "Maybe I will. It's the least I could do for doing what you did for me here today, and together, the three of us will take on this darkness to find our friends and find the light once again." Riku nods. "Yea! Look out, bad guys, cause here we come!" Leon chuckles. 


	3. Arc 3: A Surprise Encounter

Chapter 5: A Surprise Encounter  
Now that Cloud was on their team, Cid thought it might be good to try some of the uncharted areas to see if they might be around there. "The Heartless might have moved them to another place that we didn't know of so that they could keep you looking until they were ready to capture you..." said Cid.  
"Great..." said Riku. "Any ideas on where to start looking?"  
"Well, we'll just have to take flight and see what pops up."  
Thusly, the heroes proceeded on their search of the stars. As they flew past Olympus Coliseum, Cloud noticed something on the horizon. "Over there..." Riku and Squall looked over to his window and saw one of the stars shining quite bright. Riku turned and headed towards the shining world. At first, it looked like an oddly shaped planet. Yet, as they drew near, it was much more shocking than that. It was a giant island almost the size of a normal world. "Amazing on how big these worlds are," Riku said. "Destiny Islands wasn't THAT big." As they surveyed the planet, an odd ripple surfaced from beneath the island. The Gummi Ship dropped altitude only to find that a gigantic monster was on the underside. "What in the hell is THAT?!?!?!" Riku exclaimed. "I don't know, but I think we've outlasted our visit," Squall added. Riku nodded and tried to pull back, but the ship's functions weren't responding. "It's pulling us in!" Cloud exclaimed. He was right. The peach brown abomonation was pulling them in with a purple ray. "Watch out!" Riku exclaimed.  
Then everything went white.  
  
"Ohh....what happened..." Riku awoke to find himself strewn out on a bed much like his own from Destiny Islands. "Am I back???" He tried to get up, but was brought back down to the bed by a hand. He was still blurry eyed.  
"You look a little beat up. You okay?"  
-That voice...It sounds so familiar...- Riku thought. He opened his eyes and he saw clear. Right beside his bed was his friend from Destiny Islands, Wakka. "Wakka??? Is that you??? You've changed so much!" Riku exclaimed.  
"I guess so, ya. How ya been, little man?" Wakka said humourously.  
"What do you mean, little man?!?" glowered Riku. "I took on all of you and even defeated you, Tidus, and Selphie with ease!"  
"I've had some time to practice, ya? You want to go for a little rumble down at the beach?"  
"You're ON!" Riku then thought of something. "Where's Cloud? And Leon?" asked Riku.  
"Maybe they're on the beach looking for you. They friends of yours?"  
"Yea," said Riku. "They're helping me look for Sora and Kairi. They've vanished without a trace...."  
"Can't be," said Wakka. "I just saw them a bit ago heading to where Tidus usually practices for the Blitzball games."  
"Cool! After we get Cloud and Leon, can you take us there?"  
"Sure, but I've gotta warn you. Sin's influence on this place as well as these strange dark creatures that none of us can damage will make it very dangerous to go looking for Sora and Kairi."  
"Heartless are HERE?!" said Riku. "Oh, darn..."  
"Mind explaining to me what you're talking about?"  
"It's a long story. I'll explain it to you while we're finding Leon and Cloud."  
"Okay. Let's get going!"  
With that, they headed out of Wakka's village and back towards the beach where Riku had washed up on. Along the way, Riku explained to Wakka about the Heartless and the Keyblade and what had happened to Destiny Islands. "Whoa... That's freaky, man..." said Wakka. He looks around. "I think I see your friends. Is that them there?" He points to someone in black leather and another with a long red cloak with spiky hair. Riku grinned. "It's them!" He runs over to them. "Leon! Cloud!" Leon and Cloud look. "Hey, Riku," said Leon. "Where have you been at? We've been looking everywhere for you."  
"I was recovering at a friend's place after I got knocked out. Oh, this is my friend Wakka. Wakka, this is Leon and Cloud."  
"Nice to meet you two," said Wakka. "Seems like some of the problems that Riku's been facing have managed to surface here." Leon and Cloud look at Wakka. "What sort of problems?" Riku looks at them. "Heartless have invaded this world. What's even more exciting is Wakka said he thinks he saw Sora and Kairi here! Trouble is, the way to get to the place they're at has a lot of Heartless as well as some other creatures that this 'Sin' has created along it." Leon thinks. "Looks like the only way we're going to get to your friends in time is to take the long hard rode through the Heartless."  
"Wakka's going to have to come with us. He knows the way to where Sora and Kairi might be at." Wakka nods. "That's right. I've been able to take on Sin's creatures before... These new ones I can't make a dent in."  
"We'll take of the Heartless," said Riku. "You just worry about getting us there."  
"You got it! Let's get going!" said Wakka. With that, he takes off, and Riku, Leon, and Cloud take off after him. "Over here! They're amassing outside!" Riku, Cloud, Leon, and Wakka dashed for the village entrance. But to their surprise, there was a countless number of fiends and Heartless all waiting for them. "We can't take all of them on! This is suicide!" Leon exclaimed to the party. Riku and Cloud nodded, but knew that they had to fight. "Don't worry, ya? I know I can't fight them, but I know someone who can. HEY, Lu! We need some black magic over here, ya?" asked Wakka. A woman in an odd black dress, a moogle doll in hand, walked out of the village. She raised her arm and swung it down. At that motion, a sweeping storm eradicated the Heartless and some of the fiends. Now they were in reasonable amounts. "All right! Let's do it!" Squall, Cloud, Riku, and Wakka cheered as they headed off into battle. Riku slashed at a large group of Shadows, while Cloud and Leon shot down fliers with their magic. Wakka was using his Elemental Reels frequently as Blitzballs of Fire, Ice, Lightning, and Water decimated the fiends. The city's perimeter was clear, but there was a long way to go to get to the beach. "The long road leads to the beach," Lulu advised. "Whatever you're looking for is probably down there." The trio nodded and left with Wakka not far behind.  
Riku, Cloud, Leon, and Wakka arrived at the beachhead port. Yet what Riku and Wakka saw was something that they would have never expected. Tidus, their childhood friend, was grown up and fighting off the Heartless with his agile strikes. "Tidus! Over here!" Riku, both his hands cupped to his mouth, yelled. Tidus turned to see Riku and a grown up Wakka looking at him. "Guys!" Tidus slashed another Heartless down and ran towards them. "You're okay!" Riku, Wakka, and Tidus all met in a big bearhug. Cloud and Leon just looked confused. "Another one of your friends, Riku?" Leon asked. "Oh..yeah...Tidus...I'd like you to meet Cloud and Leon. They've been helping me find Sora and Kairi." The two nodded at Tidus who returned a subtle gesture. "You mean they're here? That's great!" Tidus exclaimed, but he saw the Heartless closing in from the dock. "We should get out of here before things get too dicey." The group agreed.  
Suddenly, a massive surge shook the ground from underneath the group. The five could barely hold their stances. When the rumbles subsided, Wakka pointed to something out at sea. It was a large, peach-brown fin. "SIN!" Wakka exclaimed. "The fin is Sin?" Leon questioned. "No! That's just a minor part of him. He's probably as big as this entire island!" Wakka responded. Riku gulped. From atop of Sin's fin, a creature detatched itself from it, dove into the water, and headed straight for them. "Here it comes! Watch out, guys!" Riku brought out his Keyblade; Cloud, his Buster Sword; Squall, his Gunblade; Tidus, his Longsword; and Wakka, his Blitzball.  
The creature surfaced from the water and screamed in a beastly manner. Wakka slammed the Sinspawn in its head with his Blitzball. The creature reeled. "Sonic Blade!" Cloud, his sword out for a stabbing attack, dashed endlessly at the spawn. The creature screamed as it was being totally overpowered. Squall slashed countless times while Riku went into a mad rush of three-hit combos. Tidus decided to show off his fancy footwork with his new sword techniques. All in all their attacks subdued the Sinspawn with little or no problem.  
"Great job guys!" Riku noted. They all high fived. "Hey, Tidus, did you happen to see Sora and Kairi? Wakka said they were down here!"  
"I saw them...kinda...They left on a boat somewhere to another island with a dude in a cloak." Tidus explained. Riku slapped his forehead and Wakka gasped. "It's not safe on the seas with Sin around! What were they thinking, eh?" Wakka added. "Don't worry. They'll be safe," Riku replied. "Sora can protect Kairi. I'm sure of it."  
-Mysterious man???- Cloud thought. -Could it be...him???- Riku looked at Cloud. "Uh, Cloud, are you okay?" Cloud nodded. "Yea. Let's get going."  
"Right." They get on a boat and left their friends they'd met there behind on the search for Sora and Kairi. 


	4. Arc 4: The Duel With Shadow Sora

Chapter 6: Hollow Bastion-Duel With Shadow Sora  
Following the tip from their friends, Riku, Cloud, and Leon hopped on a boat and headed across the difficult seas to the island that Tidus said he'd seen Sora and Kairi heading to. Upon reaching it, they discovered that there was a large castle on it. Riku looked at Leon and Cloud. "I wonder what this place is?" Leon shrugged. "I have no idea, but this must be the place your friend saw Sora and Kairi head into, right?" Riku nodded. "Yea. Let's head inside and see if we can't find them." Cloud and Leon nodded, and they headed inside.  
When Riku, Leon, and Cloud headed inside, they saw what appeared to be a darkened Sora. Riku looked. "Sora? Is that you?" The darkened Sora looked at him before snapping his fingers. The Keyblade vanished from Riku's hands leaving him with only the wooden pratice sword in its place. Riku looks shocked. "Sora?! What'd you do that for?" However, it was painfully clear to Riku that this WASN'T the friend he knew from Destiny Islands. If he was going to find Sora and Kairi and be able to save them, Riku knew that he had to find the Keyblade, but he knew it would be tricky, since he knew from his encounters on Destiny Island that the Shadows were invunerable to his wooden blade, but unlike then, he had two friends that would definately keep him protected til he got his Keyblade back. The shadowy Sora vanished leaving the party surrounded by Heartless. Riku knew that if he was killed, the Heartless would get his heart. Leon looked at Riku. "Riku! Stay between Cloud and me!" Riku nodded. "Right!" It was tough, but the party eventually won in the end. Now the difficult task of finding the shadowy Sora and Riku's missing Keyblade could begin in earnest.  
"How much farther must we go on?" Riku, his back against a solid rock wall, fell to the floor. He had been sprinting for hours trying to avoid the Heartless. With his valiant weapon, the Keyblade, disarmed, he was helpless and could only run from a fight. Leon was bringing up the rear of the group and fighting off an endless wave of Shadows that poured out of a doorway. They were being closed in from both sides. Cloud, though, was keeping the attackers at bay with his Sonic Blade attack. The forces of the Heartless poured in from each side of the hallway. They were trapped in both ends. It was absolutely evident that their quest would end right there.  
Fortunately for them, Deus Ex Machina works in mysterious ways.  
A gigantic, bellowing roar erupted from the doorway that the Heartless were streaming out of. A burst of Shadows erupted from the doorway as some flew straight out of the floating Bastion. Their bodies erupted and turned into rising hearts. From the door, a huge, brown-haired monster, fashioned with a tattered blue cloak, leapt out from the door and roared. The Heartless were terrified. They turn to ran, but were caught totally off guard by Leon's Hazard Zone Limit. The extended Gunblade cut down the Heartless in minutes. The ones that stood against Cloud simply merged with the shadows and scuttled away. The threat was gone for the moment.  
Leon never took down his sword as Cloud joined him to block the Beast from Riku. The Beast, defiant, stood there, yet he did not take a step towards the boy with the wooden sword clenched in his hands. Their two eyes met, and Riku knew that this force of sheer brutality and the party was of equal side. They both wanted to destroy the Heartless. Riku stepped beyond Leon and Cloud as they did not even say a word of warning. They could see the alignment as well.  
"You must be the key master. I can see it from within you." Riku was taken aback by the statement. How could he see that he was the Keyblade master? "Don't think of why. I am here to help you gain back the Keyblade. I know of your situation with the Shadow Clone."  
"Then why didn't you help us?" Cloud cut into the conversation. "We could have used your immaculate strength."  
"I was busy with my own agenda. The Heartless are after me as well. Mainly...my escort." A woman in a golden ballroom dress walked out from the doorway. She was calm and collected even through the thick of it all. "She is the most important thing to me. She disappeared when my world was torn asunder by the Heartless. I couldn't imagine my life without Belle. In a sense, some higher power heard my plea and took me to her deep inside this castle. Yet, we have no way of getting out to safety." It was true. Beast, through his massive set of fur/hair, had crusted cuts from Heartless.  
Riku offered his hand in a shake. "You are a good man. I can see the nobility just emanating from you. Once we find who is responsible for the theft of the Keyblade, we shall stop the Heartless." Before the exchange could be met, a darkness flooded the room. Leon and Cloud brought their swords forward but could not see any enemies. In the confusion, a black hole appeared underneath Riku's feet and dragged him in. "Whoa!"  
Riku woke up slowly. He was floating in a blackened abyss. He couldn't make sense of what was happening or what had happened.  
"Foolish one...can't you see that your quest is one of no meaning?" The darkness was talking to him with a lowered voice. "Your mission is one of vanity. Nothing of pleasure will come from it."  
Riku looked around to try and find the source of the voice but was to no avail. "Where are you? Come out and face me!!!" At that moment, the world around him went white as the darkness amassed into one life form. It was the Shadow of Sora. It held the Keyblade in its left hand.  
Then, the Shadow spoke as if it was a puppet. "Your fight is nothing of worth. The Heartless will consume the hearts of the worlds and darkness will run rampant throughout existance. You cannot stop the darkness. The key is ours and forever."  
Riku's wooden sword, a reminder of how much 'power' he really had, appeared again in his hands. Riku smiled and brought himself in an attack position. "I may not have the Keyblade in my hands, but I know one thing, and I stick by it like my life depends on it. I am the one. I am the one who will defeat the Heartless forever!"  
"Such impudence...Very well. Perish with this void." The Shadow Sora charged at Riku and swung the Keyblade in a wide arc. Yet, Riku blocked with his wooden sword. The play sword was matching the Keyblade. "What???" The creature was astonished.  
"Now! BEGONE!" Riku released the block sending the Shadow sprawling, and Riku impaled his shadowy friend where his heart should be. The clone flailed and went dead. The ethereal body disintegrated. Riku sighed and picked up the Keyblade. It was his after all...  
  
Riku woke up again. He was back at the hallway. Cloud, Leon, Beast, and Belle were looking him over. "Are you okay?" Leon asked. "You fell into a deep trance for a moment." Cloud offered Riku a hand and helped him up. Beast and Belle looked at Riku oddly.  
"Of course I am." Riku added. He opened his hand before his head. The Keyblade appeared in his open hand, and Riku clenched it. "Now....Let's get back to the ship." Cloud nodded. "You got it. But, what's this thing?" He held a piece of something. Riku looked at it. "It looks like a piece to something, but I don't know what. Let's keep looking and see if we can't find any more pieces." The other two nodded, and the three of them waved good-bye to their friends there before heading to the Gummi Ship. "We'll be back to free this world from the Heartless. I promise you this." 


	5. Arc 5: Three Pieces of a Key and Aeris

Chapter 7: Cloud's Past, and the Mystery Man  
Following what had happened in Hollow Bastion and what they had found there as well as what had been learned earlier from their friends Tidus and Wakka, Riku and the others were still on the search for Kairi and Sora. Their search led them to yet another unknown planet with a meteor bearing down on it in the region, well, unknown to Leon and Riku, that is. Cloud seemed to remember something about this place... something that had been hidden deep within his heart, yet he didn't make any objections to Riku saying they were going to land there to see if they could find out anything about the piece that they had picked up in Hollow Bastion following the defeat of the shadowy Sora clone and the retrieval of the Keyblade. Still, Riku could sense that something was wrong with Cloud as they made their way to the planet.  
"You okay, Cloud?" asked Riku. "You seem like you don't want to come here for a reason. What's up?" Cloud looked at him. "This planet here is my home planet, and this is where it happened long ago... Where I lost her at...."  
"Who?"  
"The friend that Hades promised to help me to find... and the one who caused this was someone who I once admired... someone that I think might have your friends as well. However, I don't think that he'll be here, but what will be here will be something that will help us to get to where he's at."  
"Well, let's get going. Then we can look elsewhere for Kairi and Sora."  
Cloud nodded. "Thank you, Riku. Hopefully, I'll find her one of these days still alive..."  
"You never said what her name was, Cloud..."  
Cloud sighs. "Her name's Aeris..." Leon blinks. "Aeris? There's someone I know back in Traverse Town that's named 'Aeris'. Maybe we should go see her later after we get done here. Maybe she's the one you're looking for." Cloud nods. "Thank you, Leon."  
Riku lands the Gummi Ship, and they get out. Upon getting out, both Riku and Leon noticed that something was different about Cloud. Cloud looks at them. "This was the outfit that I had on before the darkness took over this place and my friends vanished because of it. We need to make this fast, because the ghosts of my friends still are around, and I'd rather not disturb them with my presense here." Riku and Leon nodded, and they headed on until the reached a large building on a pole. Cloud looked at the place. "This is the Gold Saucer. It used to be the busiest place here before the darkness took over most of the world. Now, only the few survivors of that time come here." Riku nodded and looked at Cloud. "So, what are we doing here?" Cloud looked at him. "When I came here before the darkness came, I noticed there was something strange in the showroom. I asked the owner what it might be, and he said that it was a piece of something, but the other three pieces were missing. I've got a feeling that the piece that we found at Hollow Bastion is one of those missing pieces." Riku nods. "I see. Let's go check it out."   
Cloud and Leon nodded, and they rode the Ropeway car to the Gold Saucer and headed to the the showroom where they saw the piece of something on a pedistal. Riku looked at the others. "I wonder if the owner will let us borrow this for a little bit?" Cloud shrugs. "With Dio, you never know, but if he does let us borrow it, we'll have to play one of his games to get it." At that moment, a guy with bikni shorts on and a tan comes into the room. "I see you've been admiring my newest thing I've managed to acquire. I'm Dio, and what can I do for you?"  
"Could we borrow this?" asked Riku. "I have a feeling that it might help me to find my two lost friends." Dio scratches his chin. "I might let you borrow it, but you've got to do something for me first."  
"What?" asked Riku. "If you can win the next Chocobo race here, I'll let you take it." Riku looked at Dio. "I've never ridden a Chocobo before." Dio looks at Riku then at Cloud. "Well, I know that he has. I'll let him teach you on how to ride and race Chocobos. The race starts in an hour, so feel free to pratice riding the Chocobo for as long as you need to." Riku nods. "Thank you." With that, Dio left, and Riku looked at Cloud. "Do you think I'll have learned what all I need to know before the race?" Cloud nodded. "I'm sure of it. When I was here in the prison for a false accusation, I found the only way that I could get my freedom back was to win the Chocobo race. I'd never ridden a Chocobo in my life, but the person that Dio assigned to me was a great trainer. That, and I was a fast learner as well. If I can do it, you can too." Riku nodded. "Thanks, Cloud." With that, the trainning began.  
One hour later, Dio checked up to see if Riku was ready to race and was quite impressed with how much he'd learned in a short time. "Well, my boy, it looks like you're ready to race. Are you ready?" Riku nodded. "Yes, but can I race on this Chocobo that Cloud raced? It's the one I trainned on." Dio nodded. "Sure." With that, Riku was registered, and the race began.  
Tho Riku's Chocobo started off in last place. It was a strong Chocobo, and by the end of the race, Riku had won the race in first place. Dio looked at him. "You did good, boy, and like I promised, here is that piece you wanted." He handed Riku the piece of something that was on display. "Come back anytime and race again." Riku nodded. "Thanks." With that, Riku and the others waved good bye and headed back to the Gummi Ship to head back to Traverse Town to meet up with Aeris.  
  
Chapter 8: A Reunion with Aeris  
Riku piolted the Gummi Ship back to Traverse Town, and they departed. Cloud looked at himself and sighed. "Aeris won't reconize me now. The way that I looked on my planet was how she remembered me..." Riku looked at Cloud. "If she is the Aeris that you remember, she'll reconize you." Cloud looked at Riku. "Are you sure?" Riku nodded. "I'm posistive." Cloud nodded and looked at Leon. "Where did you see her last?"  
"She's in the waterway within the alleyway between the first and second districts. We won't have to worry about Heartless since the keyhole was sealed sometime ago during mine and Riku's first encounter with each other." Cloud nodded. "I see. Let's go see her. Maybe she's seen Riku's friends and might be able to tell us some information on these pieces or if she's seen Sephiroth." Leon and Riku nodded, and they headed into the alleyway via the entrance in the Second District. From there, they headed into the waterway and came across a young woman with braided brown hair, green eyes, and a pink dress.   
Cloud was no doubt surprised indeed. "Aeris?" The woman turned and looked at him. "Cloud? Is that you?" asked the woman. She looked him over. "It IS you, Cloud!" She ran over to him and hugged him. Cloud gave a rare smile. "I found you once again. I thought I'd lost you when the Heartless attacked our world, but I'm glad you're safe." Aeris nodded. "Yes, but there was someone else here earlier..." Cloud looked at her. "Who?"  
"It was Sephiroth. He's still alive." Cloud's face darkened. "Sephiroth.... damn that bastard for still being alive." Aeris nodded. "Yes, but there was something strange about him. He seemed to have two children with him." Riku was both surprised and shocked about this. "Sora... Kairi...." Aeris nodded. "Yes. I overheard him talking to someone with flames on his head and a dark grey tattered robe on telling him that he'd leave the girl back at Hollow Bastion while he waited at the Collseum for the Keyblade master. He said, 'The boy will never be able to find the 'four pieces of the key' that will unlock the door to where myself and his friend will be waiting for him.' I don't know what he meant by that, Cloud." Cloud thinks and pulls out the two pieces that they had managed to gather so far. "I wonder if these are two of the pieces of the 'key' that Sephiroth was talking about?" He puts them together to form half of the Heartless' Emblem. "This has to be the 'key' that Sephiroth was talking about!"  
"Sephiroth said that he had left a piece at Hollow Bastion, but the other three pieces he said that he was going to put in 'places they'd never think about looking'. I wonder if they're places that the Heartless have already taken over?" Cloud thinks for a moment. "Well, we did find the second piece at the Gold Saucer back in our home world, so maybe it means places that have been taken over by the Heartless and have some sort of game that we must play to win them as a prize." Leon thinks. "There was two such games in my world: Chocobo Forest puzzles and the Card Game, but with most of the people gone due to the Heartless, I'm guessing we'll find the next piece in one of the Chocobo Forest puzzles in my world."  
"It's worth a shot," said Riku. "Let's go!" Cloud nodded and looked at Aeris. "I'll be back, but I have a promise to keep to Riku. That, and Sephiroth needs to be taken out once and for all." Aeris nodded. "I'll wait for you, Cloud." Cloud nodded and headed on with Riku and Leon. Before they got onto the Gummi Ship, Cloud looked at Riku and Leon. "I'm very grateful about what you two helped me to find, and I'll help you two out no matter what. Riku, I've got something to give to you." Riku was curious. "Oh? What is it, Cloud?" Cloud handed him a keychain. "Put that on your Keyblade. I think you'll be surprised about what happens." Riku does so, and the Keyblade transformed. Riku was surprised. "Whoa... What is this?"  
"That's the Ultimate Weapon Keyblade. The Keyblade is a weapon whose power comes from the keychain attached to it. I think it was time for you to get a power boost for your Keyblade." Riku nodded. "Thanks, Cloud. Let's head on and find those other two pieces of the Embelm so that we can rescue Sora from Sephiroth. Then we can head back to Hollow Bastion and rescue Kairi." The other two nodded, and they boarded the Gummi Ship and headed onto their next destination.  
  
Chapter 9: The Third Piece  
They came to another unknown planet, well unknown to Cloud and Riku, that is. Its main feature was the large radio tower with what appeared to be a satilite dish on top of it. Leon explained that this was his home and the reason Cid had called him "Squall". "I used to be called that when I lived here and before the Heartless appeared. I wasn't able to get any of my friends onto the ship that would eventually take me to Traverse Town. They stayed behind and hid themselves in a place that couldn't be touched by the Heartless to wait til the threat was finally over with. They won't come out because of that fact, but I will change to the way I used to look. The best thing for us to do is to get to that piece of the Embelm as soon as we can and get out of here asap because there are many strong monsters that still remain. I believe that the piece we're looking for will be in one of the Chocobo Forests, but in order to get to it, we'll have to solve the puzzles and befriend the Chocobos there. Once we do that, I'm sure they'll take us to where the piece is at."  
"Well, what are we waiting for?" asked Riku. "Let's go!" The other two nodded and headed on their perilious journey to find the next piece of the Heartless Embelm.  
  
They made it to the last Chocobo Forest and found the third piece of the Embelm there. It was getting close to nightfall, so the team decided to camp there for the night. Unfortunately, they didn't know that they were being tailed by a massive monster until the ground shook, and the wind picked up. Cloud looked at the monster. "Is that Bahamut attacking us?" asked Cloud. Leon shook his head. "No, that's Titamat! It only looks like Bahamut because it used to be a Guardian Force here until Ultimecia's power turned it bad! That's why it looks and acts like Bahamut, but my friends and I managed to get Bahamut on our side after proving ourselves in a 'test' of his. It looks like if we want to leave this place, we're going to have to defeat it!"  
"How do we do that?" asked Riku. Leon smiles. "Trust me," said Leon. "I know Titamat's pattern. It'll be easy to defeat." Riku shrugs. "If you say so..."  
With that, the battle began. Leon explained that Titamat's weakness was that its countdown to its Dark Flare attack was extremely slow and that it could be made even slower with Slow magic. Also, they should protect themselves with Shield and just keep pounding the beast with their strongest attacks and magic except for Lightning and Aero. After learning the basics of the battle, Riku and Cloud found that this battle was much easier to win. Soon, the battle was over with, and Riku and the others could head back but not before Riku got two more surprises.  
In the Chocobo Forest that they had camped close by, they found a nearly fully-grown Chocobo. Chocoboy said that this Chocobo was ready to leave the nest, but since there wasn't any more Chocobo Forests around that it needed to be taken somewhere else and asked Riku to take care of it. After having so much fun with the Chocobo Racing back in Cloud's world, Riku said yes. He named his new Chocobo "Destiny" after his home the Destiny Islands.  
The second surprise was from Leon who gave him a keyring that was similar to the one that he had on his Gunblade. When Riku put it on his Keyblade, it changed again. Leon looked at Riku. "That's the Lion Heart keychain," said Leon. "It's also a symbol of courage, just to let you know."  
"Thanks, Leon," said Riku. "I've got a feeling I know where the last piece of the Embelm is."  
"Where?" asked Leon.  
"It's on Tidus' world. They have a game they play there called 'Blitzball'. I bet that's what we have to play in order to win the final piece of the Embelm!"  
"Good thinking, Riku!" said Leon. "Let's get going!"  
With that, they got on the Gummi Ship and headed back to Tidus' world to see if they had managed to find the final piece of the Emblem and how they could get it. 


	6. Arc 6: The Return to Spira

Chapter 10: The Return to Spira  
Cid's gummi ship landed on the sandy beaches of Besaid Island. Unlike the last time that Squall, Cloud, and Riku visited, the Heartless were gone. Another benefactor was that Sin was nowhere in sight.  
The island seemed so much different from the last time. The children from the Besaid Village were building sandcastles in the sand, while some were in the water enjoying themselves. A group of adults, all wearing matching beige and dark blue suits, were tossing around a white ball with two blue lines going in a horizontal direction. Riku immediately identified that as a Blitzball, Wakka's favorite weapon. They were the Besaid Aurochs, a Blitzball team that was notorius for their immaculate losing streak. They fumbled the ball between their hands and missed catching it all together. From behind the group, out of Riku's view, Wakka was talking with Tidus. For some odd reason, the destruction of Destiny Islands aged them from adolescents straight to manhood. Even they don't understand why that happened.  
"Tidus! Wakka!" Riku exclaimed at the top of his voice. Both of them looked in his direction and answered with a wave.  
"Hee-ey! What's happening?" Wakka responded. Tidus ran over to the group and Wakka, along with the Aurochs, followed.   
"Hey, buddy! How's things?" Tidus said as he messed up Riku's hair playfully. Riku batted him away and fixed his hair. Riku frowned and crossed his arms while Wakka and the Aurochs laughed.  
"Can't complain. Have you seen Sora or Kairi since the last time we were here?" asked Riku. Tidus' and Wakka's smiles turned into frowns with shaking heads. Riku's happiness to see his childhood friends diminished into sadness. He wasn't any closer to Sora, Kairi, and Sephiroth since the last time. Just then, one of the Aurochs singled himself out from the rest. He was a big man with buzz cut brown hair and arms that seemed great for blocking. He was Keepa, the Aurochs' goalie.  
"Wait! These kids you were talking about. They boy had spiky brown hair and the girl had red?" Riku nodded hopefully. "I saw them! They were with this cloaked man coming down from the Besaid Temple! The cloaked man had long silver hair and the biggest sword I have ever seen!"  
"Sephiroth," Cloud murmured. "We must be close to where the Heartless piece is." Squall nodded in approval, with Riku not far behind responding.  
Keepa continued, "I followed them out of the village and saw that the cloaked man had no problem in warding off the fiends outside the village. He did it with grace and strength beyond anything I have ever seen! He and the two kids boarded the midnight sail to Luca. Maybe that's where you have to go next!"  
"Perfect! You can come along with us to Luca!" Wakka exclaimed. "Tidus, myself, and the Aurochs are going to Luca for the annual Blitzball tournament. Maybe you can find what you're looking for at the tourney, ya?" Tidus smiled in approval. Riku contemplated the action in his mind. He looked at his comrades for approval. Both Squall and Cloud gave immediate nods.  
"All right then. We'll go with you. When do we leave?"  
  
The oceans of Besaid were beautiful things. Crystal clear, full of life, and not a trace of pollution. It was too good to be true. The blue water reminded Riku of the beach back at Destiny Islands. He had come a long way from his world, and he wasn't going to stop for anything or anyone until he found his friends. The passenger boat crashed once again upon the waves.  
"Beautiful, isn't it?" A female voice commented on as Riku tranced. The Keyblade wielder turned to see who it was as it startled him slightly. Behind him was a woman in white clothing with an ornate staff, only useable with both hands. Riku got up to greet her.  
"I know. It reminds me of my world. I'm Riku. Nice to meet you," Riku offered a handshake. The woman accepted it.  
"Yuna. Pleased to meet you. Wakka has said many great things about you. That was one of his favorite discussions back when we were all kids growing up." Riku was taken aback. "You mean Wakka has been living here?"   
Yuna nodded. "On a day when the fiends were rampant, some of the villagers found him at the entrance to the village. He was barely conscious and incoherent. He kept calling out for his mother, father, and his friends. I remember him talking about a strong boy named Riku."   
Riku blushed. "Yea. You could say that. Sora and I were the ones to go to when trouble grew. There was none of this Heartless stuff, but we still had our fair share of danger," Riku sighed as he looked up at the blue sky. Not a single cloud, too. As soon as he laid down on the ship's deck, he saw Tidus looking down on him.  
"Hey there, lazy bones! Want to spar?" Tidus said with an impish grin on his face.   
Riku snorted. "Only if you want to lose!" Tidus brought his sword down on Riku, but the silver haired boy blocked with the Lionheart Keyblade. "Still fast as ever, I see?"   
Riku nodded as he held the guard. Tidus brought up his new blue glowing sword and sat down near Riku and Yuna. "Then I have a favor to ask. We just became short one player on the team. Letty came down with something really nasty. Not even Yuna could cure him." Riku looked to the Summoner and she nodded in approval with Tidus' statement.  
Riku was surprised. "You want ME to play Blitzball? I don't know the first thing about it!" Riku got back up to a sitting position. "Furthermore, I heard it's played all underwater! ALL OF IT! I can't hold my breath for ten straight minutes!" Tidus was about to countertalk, but Cloud stepped in from one of the large masts. The sails shadowed him somewhat from the blazing sun.  
"I have just the needs for you to compete, Riku," Cloud said as he handed Riku a small, emerald jewel. Riku looked at Cloud in bewilderment. Cloud continued, "This is a Materia. This small jewel is the source of magic in my world. Generally speaking, no one in my world is without one of these. This one is a very rare and special gem, though. It allows the bearer to breathe underwater." Riku looked at the gem in awe. He got up to his feet.  
"Alright then, Tidus! You have your substitute."  
  
The city of Luca. With the sun as bright as it was on that day, all of the citygoers were out and about on the promenades and streets, haggling with merchants.Yet, a lot of the denizens of one of the last technologically-advanced towns were heading for an arena. It was a large, roofless stadium with a ring on the top that circled the entire building. This was the Blitzball arena where the annual Blitzball tournament is held. Citizens from all over Spira came from far and wide to cheer on their favorite team to victory over others.  
"Jeez, man. There's not an Auroch fan amongst the crowd!" Wakka exclaimed. Yet, he was sadly right. On most occasions, kids and adults would dress in makeshift or official uniforms of the Blitzball team that they wish on to victory. There was no such jersey of the Aurochs in the crowd at the nearby port. Wakka kicked his foot against the boat side and grabbed it. It would hurt, you know. Tidus stepped behind him and calmed him down.  
"Don't worry, pal. From this point on, the Aurochs are going on a hot streak!" Tidus raised a fist in the air, just like one would do to the fans after they had won the cup. Wakka smiled and raised one himself. Just then, Riku, now wearing the Underwater Materia around his neck, came from below quarters. He'd been asleep for most of the trip, as his latest adventures had tired him out a bit. He needed to get some rest before the big game. Squall and Cloud were on the top deck looking at Luca from a taller perspective. Luca was BIG. It could easily take up a quarter of Besaid Island. Riku yawned and stretched himself out. Tidus took the moment to aptly dash behind him and noogie him.  
"Ow! Hey watch it!" Riku shoved him off. Tidus and Wakka laughed jokingly. Riku scrubbed away all the sleep in his eyes and looked at Luca. To him, it was BIG. Bigger than anyone else would see it. He was only accustomed to Destiny Islands. The boat's bell dinged twice notifying the crewman that they would be docking at port soon.  
  
In the Aurochs' locker room, Tidus, Riku, and the rest of the Aurochs waited patiently for Wakka to return. The team captains had to meet and obtain their first round teams. The Aurochs were conversing with themselves as a group about Besaid and how they miss it already, while Tidus and Riku reminisced about Destiny Islands. Just then, Wakka burst through the door.  
"Guys, guys! We got a bye for the first round!" The Aurochs brightened. "There's a game between the Ronso Fangs and the Al Bhed Psyches going on right now! We face whoever wins." The team let out a cheer.  
Wakka pulled out the tournament score card from his back pocket. "Here's the teams, ya!"  
Al Bhed Psyches vs. Ronso Fangs  
Besaid Aurochs get a bye and will face the winner of the round said above.  
Luca Goers vs. Guado Glories  
Kilika Beasts get a bye and will face the winner of the round said above.  
Narrator: Time went by during the tournament. On the day of the final, the standings stood that the Besaid Aurochs would face the Luca Goers in the championship match. Not said before, the Aurochs and the Goers have a hate-hate relationship. They have been rivals for a number of years. Yet, on with the story.  
  
The Blitzball flew down the water sphere and Keepa deftly caught it with one hand.  
The crowd roared its approval for the Auroch goalie. He was playing a solid game against the murderous offence of the Luca Goers. He threw the ball to Wakka who was halfway down the sphere and took off like an torpedo at the Luca goal. The two assigned defenders ganged up on him, but he was quick to react, as he tossed the Blitzball Tidus' way. One of the defenders clipped it with her hand and the ball went wobbly towards Tidus. He grabbed the ball, but was quick to lose it, as it seemed to move right out of his firm grasp. One of the attackers from the Luca Goers picked up the ball and threw it down to the Cherrypicker forward. The said attacker wound up and kicked the ball once more at the Auroch goal. Both Datto and Jassu, the defense, couldn't get to the ball in time and it sailed inches past Keepa into the goal. The sirens blared and the Goers were awarded a goal.  
The score was close. It was three all with two minutes of regulation time left. Things were starting to get a little bit dicey.  
As the crowd celebrated, Tidus, Wakka, and Riku met near the midfield point to discuss their strategy. They did all sorts of hand signals to where they were going to attack. They all nodded and they took their positions on the board.  
One and a half minutes left.  
The Blitzball shot out from the middle of the sphere and Wakka caught it. The Goers' center was met with a stiff arm from the team captain of the Aurochs and shoved him out of the way.  
One minute.  
The opposing offense started to zone in on Wakka, but surprisingly, the defense from Jassu and Datto held them off. With the forwards distracted, Wakka launched a rocket of a shot into the top part of the sphere. The weird part was that was nowhere near the goal. Yet, up in the sky, and out of the sphere, Tidus was there, almost frozen in time. He performed a reverse flip in the air and brought his right foot down on the speeding Blitzball. His patented Sphere Shot.  
The ball meteor dived back into the hydro sphere and went straight for the goalie.  
Fifteen seconds left.  
But as the shot came down, the goalie was ready to try and block the speeding ball. But, to his surprise, it was far short from the goal. Totally off target. Just then, Riku stealthily appeared from the mass of forwards at high speed. He brought his foot back and put some more mustard onto Tidus' Sphere Shot with a roundhouse kick. The accuracy was perfect, as the Blitzball scorched its way past the goalie's five-hole.  
With three seconds to spare.  
The crowd went absolutely insane with cheer as the clock wound down. From out of nowhere, the lowest ranked team in the league, the Besaid Aurochs, won the coveted tournament trophy. It was only the beginning of the season, but the Aurochs huddled and congradulated each other like they had beaten the season with no losses. In the stands, Squall showed his approval with a brisk clap. Cloud was silent. From behind his red scarf, he was smiling.  
Suddenly, as the crowd erupted into massive cheer, a looming darkness spread over the stadium. All went quiet, wondering what was going on. From the cloudy darkness, underwater Heartless and fiends poured out into the Blitzball sphere, while fliers and heavy armored fiends took to the stands. The fans went screaming in fear in any possible direction. This was more or less feeling like Sin was attacking Luca only indirect.  
Without words, Squall and Cloud brought out their weapons and began to fend off the mixture of Heartless and fiends. Riku, Wakka, and Tidus armed themselves still in the sphere, and began to fend off the creatures who infected the purity of the hydro sphere. The underwater team were doing great, yet Squall and Cloud were quickly becoming overpowered. With their weapons disarmed and both of them on the ground, they were set to be destroyed. Yet, a numerous amount of Blitzballs smacked into each of the fiends and Heartless in rapid succession. Wakka had just pulled off his new move, the Attack Reels.  
The party met near the stands and decided to attack the ground forces first, as it was clear that the underwater entities were not going places. When the party was ready to head into battle, Tidus recognized someone on a promenade above them.  
A man in red garb with a huge sword stood defiant against a large fiend. It looked incredibly menacing, yet the man wasn't swayed by its horrid visage. He put his left foot out in front of him and pulled his braced hand from out of his cloak. He was ready for battle. The fiend lunged at him, but the warrior brought his sword up front and impaled the monster killing it instantly.  
"Auron?" Tidus asked, exiting out from the nearest entrance.  
"Sir..sir Auron?" Wakka asked in awe.  
The man was set in his battle stance, unmoved. "Quickly! We must finish this!" Auron brought his blade back to his shoulder and moved on to the next horde. The team split up and fought the monsters, yet it seemed that there was a limitless amount. It would be futile to continue.  
Yet, there was one more player to play.  
From the box suite, a seat only for the rulers of Spira, a man in odd navy blue cloth with even weirder long, blue hair, stood from his seat. He was not afraid of danger. He rose his hand into the air in an elegant move. From the sky, a black portal opened up and a three-pronged anchor sank into the ground. It descended into the blackness it created until it snagged something and pulled it up.   
Riku, Squall, Cloud, Tidus, and Wakka watched as a large, bandaged and chained monster rose from the darkness and screamed a wail of terror. It shook the heroes right down to the bone. Its only visible eye began to shine a translucent hue, and a burst of energy erupted and instantly slayed one of the Heartless. It continued at a massive speed disintegrating the fiends and Heartless to nothing while saving all the stadium watchers.  
The blue haired man smiled an emotionless smile and left.  
  
A day after the tournament and the attack, all was well again. The crew were on the road to D'jose, as were Yuna and her guardian allies: Tidus, Auron, Wakka, Lulu, and Kimahri. Yet, Riku, Squall, and Cloud decided to comb Luca for clues about the Heartless piece. At the start of the road, Wakka singled out Riku from the pack.  
"Too bad you couldn't come wit' us, ya? We would've had loads of fun!" Wakka said. Riku nodded, but in the back of his mind, knew that the piece was in Luca not beyond. "Here's something to remember us by." Wakka pulled out a miniature, chain-locked Blitzball. "That was my good luck charm for the tournament. You can have it. I think that it will do best with your fancy sword, ya?" Riku nodded and removed the Lionheart keychain and clipped on Wakka's charm. The sword changed into a slender, long Keyblade with a small Blitzball on the end. Both crews were amazed. Wakka continued.  
"This is from Kimahri. He was once told that this gem had special powers." Wakka slapped Riku on the back. "Put that to good use, eh?" Riku, rubbing his back, nodded. Cloud looked at the gem and realized that it was a summon Materia.  
"Amazing. It's Leviathan, the king of all water monsters. That would be a very powerful ally," Cloud told Riku. Riku turned and gave the gem to Cloud. "I want you to have it, Cloud."   
Cloud was taken aback slightly. "I'm not the best with Materia. I don't know if you could see it, but I was struggling to breathe underwater with that Materia you gave me," said Riku. Cloud looked to Tidus and Wakka. They both nodded in agreement. "It was a miracle that I pulled off that move at the end at all." Cloud was reluctant but accepted the offer.  
Yuna stepped forward and courtsied for the Keyblade group. They nodded in return. "I want you to have this. This summon has been very close to me, but it seems that whatever you are doing is much more vital to the safety of Spira. Please take it as a token of my thanks and for a good conversation aboard the boat." She handed Riku a purple bead with the painting of a mystical unicorn. "I would be sure that Ixion would be grateful with his new owner." Riku grasped the bead and bowed again. What great friends Riku had made on his journey.  
The fellowship of the key waved goodbye to the summoner's party as they disappeared down the road. Riku knew that when this was all over, he was hellbent on coming back.  
"So guys," Riku started, "where to now?" He turned around and hit something with his foot. He looked down to see an ornate piece of metal on the ground. He grabbed it from the sand and looked at it.  
"The final piece! Wait, what's this on the back?" Riku looked at the backside to find a darkness black feather almost seeming to stick itself to the Heartless piece. Cloud swiped the feather from the metal and explained to them with three words... three words that would raise the stakes in this battle between the light and the dark.  
"Sephiroth's calling card."  
Things were going to get ugly indeed. 


	7. Arc 7: The Showdown of Fate

Chapter 11: The Showdown of Fate  
The Gummi Ship landed outside of the Collseum, and the party got out. Riku looked at Cloud. "Shouldn't we be going to Hollow Bastion? That's where we found the first piece of the Embelm."  
Cloud shook his head. "Sephiroth wouldn't go back to a place he was at before. He'd go someplace where we wouldn't think to look until much later. That's why I'm thinking he'd be here," said Cloud. "That, and this is where the strongest gather. He'd feel right at home here."  
"Yea... Maybe Phil's seen him or Sora!"  
  
The party headed into the lounge. Phil was there looking over the schedual of fights when he saw Riku and the others come in. "Hey, kid, you're just in time! There's a new team that's not been beat yet." Riku blinks. "Oh? What'd they look like?"  
"Well," said Phil. "One of them was dressed in a black cloak and had long sliver hair... But his weapon was the longest sword that I've ever seen!"  
"That's Sephiroth all right," said Cloud. "What did the other one look like, Phil?"  
"Well," said Phil, "His partner was a boy with spikey brown hair and a darker version of that funky weapon you've got." He points to Riku. Riku gasps. "Sora..." Riku looks at Phil. "We're going to take them on! Where do we have to go?"  
"Whoa, whoa, whoa..." said Phil. "There's a few stipulations that were placed up when those two set up the challenge."  
Leon looked at Phil. "What are the stipulations?" he asked. Phil looked at them. "Well, first you've got to find four pieces of a key to open their door."  
Riku, Cloud, and Leon brought out their pieces of the Embelm. "You mean these?" asked Riku. Phil blinks. "That's them, all right. The second stipulation is that only two people can go in to challenge them."  
Riku looked at Cloud who nodded. "Riku and I are going to challenge them, Phil," said Cloud. Phil looked at them. "You sure? You know you can't come back once you head in there until you defeat them."  
"We know, Phil," said Riku.  
"Okay," said Phil. "Good luck."  
With that, Riku and Cloud got themselves equipped because they knew that this was going to be a tough battle indeed. When they were all set to go, Cloud and Riku put the pieces into their places, and the door opened up. They ran in side by side and looked around. In front of them and holding a darkened version of Riku's Keyblade was Sora. Sephiroth was no where to be seen... or so they thought.  
From above them, light began to gather into a dome-shaped area before it collasped inward, and a hole opened up showing the night sky. Magic started to whirl in a vortex within the hole before it transformed into a circle of complex patterns with a rounded triangle in the center. The triangle's points stuck out of circle, and from them, three vortices of magic appeared encircling a central vortex of magic that blasted down causing a bright flash of light where it landed. Cloud and Riku shielded their eyes.  
As the magic faded away, a figure could be seen. His back was turned towards them, but they could clearly make out the long silver hair and his long black coat. A single midnight black feathered wing was over his right shoulder. He got up slowly knowing that his partner, Sora, would keep him protected until he had fully turned around and drawn his sword.  
Cloud had his sword out, but he didn't rush Sephiroth as he had done several times in the past. This was because of Sora. Cloud knew he could attack Sephiroth if he wanted to, but he knew that if he tried Sora would take the blow instead, and he would've broken his promise to Riku to help him find and rescue his friends from where ever they were at.  
Riku too had his weapon out, yet he didn't advance on his friend. Riku didn't want to harm his friend, yet he knew that he had to free him somehow from whatever terrible spell that Sephiroth had placed on him. Then maybe he'd find out where Kairi was so that he could rescue her and be over with this mess...  
  
With all the main players in posistion, Sephiroth started to move. He slowly began to raise off of the ground just as a puppet would do when someone lifted its strings up. It almost looked like he wasn't alive, but Cloud and Riku knew better. When Sephiroth stood all the way up, his right arm outstretched as did his wing. Riku and Cloud stood ready. Sephiroth glanced over his shoulder to see them prepared, and he slowly turned around. An emotionless smile was on his face as his cold aquamarine eyes met theirs. His right hand reached over to his left side and grasped the hilt of his sword, the Masamune. Riku and Cloud stood in ready stances as did Sora. Sephiroth pulled out his massive blade.   
The fighting ring was sealed in by magic, so Cloud and Riku knew the only way to get out of there and alive with Sora was if they could defeat Sephiroth. The only problem was that Sora was under one of Sephiroth's spells and would take any damage for Sephiroth should Cloud try to attack him. However, if their plan was going to work, Cloud and Riku had to keep the two of them separate so that Sephiroth could be defeated without harming Sora. Riku decided he'd act as the decoy again, only this time, he'd keep Sora on his tail to keep him from getting harmed. Once Cloud had taken care of Sephiroth, Riku would knock some sense back into his friend just as he had done during the sparring matches back on Destiny Island.  
  
When the match began, Riku ran right in front of Sora. "Come on, Sora! Bet 'cha can't catch me!" Sora took the bait and chased after Riku leaving Sephiroth facing a very pissed off Cloud Strife. "Sephiroth! You will pay for what you've done to Riku's friend!" he shouted as he weiled his Buster Sword.  
"Oh, really?" Sephiroth smirked arrogently. "Come on and try me, boy." Red lightning danced around Cloud, while blue lightning danced around Sephiroth. The next moment, there was an explosion as both of them rushed each other, and their swords clanged against one another. Both of them darted to opposite ends of the rings, and as Cloud was preparing to dash forward, a demonic wing sprouted from his right shoulder. They darted towards each other and begun to attack each other while dodging the other's blows eventually taking it to the air. They pulled back once more preparing for the final dash towards each other. Sephiroth was clearly wounded, but Cloud showed no signs of injury. They darted back towards each other and started the entire attack and dodge thing once again. Eventually, a mighty blow from Cloud sent Sephiroth high into the sky, and he just hovered there as if daring Cloud to come after him. Cloud gathered into a crouch and launched himself straight at Sephiroth who plunged towards him like a meteor. They met in the middle with a mighty clash of swords that caused a brilliant white light to light up the arena.  
  
While all of this had been going on, Riku and Sora were still duking it out in a battle of Keyblades, and for a while, it seemed that Sora was going to win. However, when Sora looked up to see what was going on after he had knocked Riku to the ground, he became blinded by the light. Riku saw his chance. Using his springboard kick, he kicked Sora in the chest knocking him out. Riku knelt down beside him, deftly removed the dark Keyblade from his hand, and destroyed it with his own. Then Riku watched the battle between Cloud and Sephiroth wind down.  
  
Sephiroth too had been blinded by the brilliance of the light caused by the clashing of his and Cloud's swords, so he never saw it coming. Cloud gathered his energy and performed the same move that had killed Sephiroth the last time they had battled each other one on one. "Omnislash!" The only thing that made this one different was that this one was in the air. Sephiroth was hit with several blows before he fell to the ground, but he didn't even get that far before he disintergrated into black magic and feathers.  
Cloud landed a few minutes later and ran over to where Riku was with the unconscious Sora. "Is he okay, Riku?" asked Cloud.  
"I don't know," said Riku. "I guess we'll know when he wakes up."  
  
Just then, Sora's eyes started to open up. "Where am I?" Sora asked blinking his eyes. He spotted Riku. "Riku, what's going on? And who's that?"  
"He's a friend," said Riku. "Trust me. The story'll take some time to tell, but right now, we need to find Kairi to make sure she's okay."  
"The guy left her at the castle on the island inside a deep chamber. I don't know what he's planning to do with her, but I know it's not good."  
"He must be talking about Hollow Bastion, Riku," said Cloud.  
Riku looked at Sora. "Don't worry, Sora. My friends and I will rescue her. Want to know what Tidus and Wakku have been up to?" asked Riku. Sora's face brightened up a bit. "Sure."  
"We'll take you there first so you can reminice about the good days, and I'll go get Kairi. Besides, I've got a promise to keep to a couple of my friends at that place."  
"Okay," said Sora as he took Riku's hand to help him up.  
The three of them headed back to the lobby to get Leon and then to Besaid Island where Sora got the surprise of his life finding out that Tidus and Wakku were all grown up and Riku had learned to play Blitzball from them to help them win a championship.  
  
Saying good-bye to their friends on Besaid Island, Riku, Cloud, and Leon hopped onto a boat and headed back to Hollow Bastion to help out Beast, Belle, and Kairi. Little did they know that they would find the source of all the Heartless as well as how to stop them there as well... 


	8. Arc 8: Warrior of Darkness

Chapter 12: Warrior of Darkness  
Riku, Cloud, and Leon once again headed inside the foreboding castle just as they did so long ago, only this time was different. Not only were they going to help out their friends, Belle and the Beast, but they were also going to find Kairi and bring her back to the others... or so they thought that was the only things that they had to do...   
Riku looked at his partners. "I bet Belle and the Beast will be happy to see us again." Cloud nodded. "Yes, indeed. You made them a promise, and now, you're going to forfill it... with our help, of course." Riku nodded. "Yea... Hey... Who's that up ahead?"  
The man in question was a man dressed in and outfit of odd navy blue cloth with even weirder long, blue hair. It was the same person they'd seen at the stadium after the Blitzball championship and during the Heartless and fiend attack... the same person that had summoned the large, bandaged, and chained monster that had decimated the fiends and Heartless there. He was now standing between them and the door to the Bastion.  
"Greetings...I am sure that you are here to see the master," the man in blue asked the entourage. He, his maester robes still in a calm wind, did not waver from his position. Riku, Cloud, and Squall knew that he was trouble. If he wasn't, he would have stepped out of the way. Riku drew his Keyblade with no words of retribution. Cloud and Squall unsheathed their weapons and waited for the hellacious battle to come. The blue haired man crossed his arms and laughed. He thrusted an arm upwards and proclaimed to the sky, "Come! Anima!"  
From a dark portal overhead, a massive anchor fell to the ground and seemed to pierce the floor entirely. A circle of darkness shrouded the anchor until it hooked onto something. The anchor rose from the earth, only to bring forth a being of absolute terror. The Aeon, Anima. The chained beast roared a growl and a cry to the sky and looked down at the trio.  
"This is not good," Cloud said aloud. "Riku, time to test our summons!" Riku nodded and took out the small purple jewel that Yuna had given him before. It began to shine a bright violet. From the gem, a horse's whinny erupted from the jewel. As soon as the neigh was emitted, a gigantic portal behind Riku emerged emitting a thunderbolt that caught onto his Keyblade. Riku held on as he could feel something on the other end of the lightning bolt. Something wanted out from the portal. He heaved forward as hard as he could, and a white horse with a golden horn leaped out from the portal. Ixion, wanting to face Anima and to protect the group, landed in front of Riku.  
Cloud put in the Leviathan Materia into his Buster Sword. The jewel shone red, and with a wave of water from the rising falls of the Bastion, Leviathan appeared behind the group. He was too large to be in front of the party.  
As the final summon was done, the fight began. Anima's only exposed eye started to glow. He was charging up for one of his powerful moves: Pain. Ixion took the oppurtunity and summoned a wrath of lightning bolts down upon Anima. The attack struck home but did not faze the Aeon's charge. Leviathan shot bursts of high pressure water at Anima, yet the attack did not faze him either. Anima finished charging and shot a beam of energy that struck Leviathan dead on. Leviathan was hurt badly from one attack. Ixion followed up with a lightning-quick dash. The unicorn impaled Anima, but it did not faze the hideous Aeon in the slightest. Nothing was working. Yet, after that last attack, Ixion was ready to take Anima, and Seymour, down.   
The unicorn lept into the air and threw down a grand lightning bolt at Anima through his horn. The lightning bolt hit and continuously fed electricity into the Aeon. With one quick charge, Ixion and Leviathan worked together as a flawless team. Leviathan shot out grand waves which struck Anima and increased the effectiveness of the lightning. When the waves hit, Ixion gave a burst of electricity into his attack and sent it through Anima. The Aeon was a livewire. Ixion landed back on the ground, his power depleted. Yet, Anima was down and out, finally. Both Ixion and Anima were reduced to pyreflies as both disappeared.  
Seymour didn't faze. He raised his hand again. The three got ready for an attack. Yet, with one flap of the hand, Seymour disappeared.  
  
Riku looked at his companions. "This isn't good. Two summons were barely enough to take on Anima this time. What if he's stronger the next time we meet him?" asked Riku.  
Leon looked at Riku. "I didn't bring out my summon because I wanted Seymour to think that those two were the only ones we had," said Leon.  
"What do you mean?" asked Cloud.  
"Well, said Leon, "the summon I have is one of the most powerful of all the summons." Cloud blinks. "You mean..?" Leon nods. "That's right. My summon, or Guardian Force as the ones in my world know them as, is Bahamut, the king of all dragons and the king of all summons." Riku grins. "All right! Three summons should be able to knock Amina out fast and be able to take Seymour out as well!" Leon nods. "Yes, and you've managed to get some strong new skills that will help out as well."  
"Yea. Let's go find Seymour and get rid of him once and for all!" Riku said with his fist clenched. 


	9. Arc 9: Saving Kairi

Chapter 13: Dark Dragon Attack!  
They began searching the castle for any signs of Seymour, Kairi, or their friends, Belle and the Beast, but found no trace of them at first. However the party noticed that Belle and the Beast were there somewhere but obviously had been chased from the area by something... something HUGE. Riku looked at his companions. "I wonder what could've chased them away?" he asked. Cloud shrugged his shoulders. "I have no idea," said Cloud, "but whatever it was, it was really HUGE and nasty." Leon nodded in agreement, but before he could say anything else, a loud growling roar could be heard coming from the darkened arch to their left and was coming their way. The party drew their weapons and prepared for battle as a huge black Dragon with a purplish underbelly and glowing yellow eyes appeared. This had once been Maleficent, the evil queen who wanted complete power yet had failed but still had the chance to destroy the heroes before they could find the source of the Heartless.  
As soon as the battle began, Riku jumped onto the back of the massive beast and ran up to its head. From there, he started using one of his new skills, Raid, to unleash several combos at the Dragon's head until he unleashed the final "Judgement" combo. Below, Cloud and Leon were uneashing their own impressive combos at the Dragon's face. Leon used his Lionheart combination, and Cloud followed it up with his Omnislash technique.  
The Dragon was nearly defeated, and it shook its head violently flinging Riku off of it. Riku almost would have landed really hard had Leon not used the Float magic he had gathered while on his world sometime earlier. With it, Riku landed softly like a feather rather than hard like a rock. Riku looked at Leon. "Thanks again, Leon," said Riku. Leon nodded. "It wasn't nothing at all, Riku, but the Dragon's almost finished. One or two more powerful combos should finish it off," noted Leon. Riku nodded and used his other new skill: the Arc Arcanum. The powerful combo hit the Dragon, but it wasn't enough. Cloud finished the beast with his Omnislash.  
As soon as the great beast fell, a glowing circle appeared near a door behind the fallen Dragon that opened up. Stepping within the circle, Riku and his friends regained their magic and energy back before heading inside.  
  
When they headed inside, Riku spied someone lying still on the couch. He immediately reconized who it was. "Kairi!" Riku cried out in suprise and ran over to her. Leon and Cloud followed him. Riku knelt down next to Kairi. "Kairi, wake up. It's me, Riku! I've come to take you back to Sora and our friends! Kairi, please wake up!" But Kairi didn't move. Riku shook her once trying to wake her up, but she still didn't move. Riku, tears in his eyes, looked at Leon and Cloud. "Why isn't she waking up?" asked a tearful Riku.  
Before either of them could answer, someone else did. "She won't wake up so long as I have her heart."  
  
Chapter 14: Battle of the Heart  
Riku, Cloud, and Leon looked and spied Seymour once again. In his hand was a glowing heart. Riku glared at Seymour. "Give that back!" demanded Riku. "Oh, I will," said Seymour, "That is IF you can beat me!" The blue haired man crossed his arms and laughed. He thrusted an arm upwards and proclaimed to the sky, "Come! Anima!"  
From a dark portal overhead, a massive anchor fell to the ground and seemed to pierce the floor entirely. A circle of darkness shrouded the anchor until it hooked onto something. The anchor rose from the earth, only to bring forth a being of absolute terror. The Aeon, Anima. The chained beast roared a growl and a cry to the sky and looked down at the trio.  
Riku, Cloud, and Leon knew that in order to get to Seymour, they would have to defeat Anima, and to do that, they were going to need some serious help. Riku went first. He held the purple summon jem and called out, "Ixion!" It began to shine a bright violet. From the gem, a horse's whinny erupted from the jewel. As soon as the neigh was emitted, a gigantic portal behind Riku emerged emitting a thunderbolt that caught onto his Keyblade. Riku held on as he could feel something on the other end of the lightning bolt. Something wanted out from the portal. He heaved forward as hard as he could, and a white horse with a golden horn leaped out from the portal. Ixion was ready for round two with Amina, and this time, he wouldn't just have Levithan helping him out.  
Cloud went next. Drawing his hand across his blade, a glowing ring encircled him before he thrust his sword up high. The jewel shone red, and with a wave of water from the rising falls of the Bastion, Leviathan appeared behind the group. He was too large to be in front of the party. There was one more summon to be played now, and Leon had it with him.  
Leon brought his Gunblade in front of him and began to concentrate. When he felt the presence of the Guardian Force near him, Leon brought his blade downwards and whipped his hand out in front of him as if to call something to him. From above the Bastion, something was coming down from high above. Then suddenly, a large dragon broke through the clouds and headed to the Bastion. Dust was kicked up behind Leon as the Guardian Force landed behind him ready to attack.  
With the final summon done, the battle was ready to commence. Amina's single eye glowed as it prepared to unleash its first attack. Ixion took the advantage and unleashed a rain of lightning bolts onto the Aeon lighting it up. Levithan followed the attack up by unleashing a tidal wave powering up Ixion's attack and harming the Aeon some more, but it wasn't enough. Now, it was Bahamut's turn to unleash his attack, Mega Flare. Bahamut flew up high and unleashed a massive beam at the Aeon causing a massive explosion. The party and the other two summons were protected because Bahamut had put a shield around them before the attack had began. Amina was still standing but barely. Now was the time for the final attack. The three summons combined their attacks to unleash the Giga Flare which KO'ed Amina.  
  
With the Aeon down for the count for the final time, the three summons vanished, and the stage was set for the battle to win back Kairi's heart from Seymour. Leon and Cloud figured that Seymour would play dirty, so they had their magic from their worlds all set in case it came down to that. Riku was ready with both the spells he had learned and the ablities that he gained to help him win this battle, but ultimately it would come down to teamwork between the three of them to defeat their difficult foe.  
Seymour didn't hesitate despite the loss of his Aeon. He raised his hand and brought it down forcefully shooting lighting bolts at the party. The party dodged the attack and went in for the kill, but Seymour was ready for them and casted Dark Flare hitting them all for massive damage. Riku wasn't fazed by it and dashed in to use the Arc Arcanum, but Seymour dodged it and hit Riku with the Freeze spell paralyzing him. He was defenseless and unable to attack... unable, that is, until Cloud used the Esuna spell to heal him. Riku then nailed Seymour with the Arc Arcanum hitting him for massive damage. Seymour attacked Riku with the Flare spell and almost KOed him, but Leon quickly used Curaga healing him back up. They all knew that if they didn't finish the battle soon, the three of them would run out of magic power and be vunerable to Seymour's attacks, so Cloud got ready to unleash the most powerful magic any of them could hold. Riku and Leon had to set Seymour up, tho, so he couldn't counter the spell once it was cast. Riku once again used the Arc Arcanum and Leon followed it with Flare magic. Then they dashed back just as Cloud casted the one magic spell that could end this for them. "Ultima!" Cloud called out.  
A pinpoint of white energy settled right below Seymour right before it blasted out in a massive explosion blinding them all. When it was done, Seymour was gone, and Kairi's heart was free from its cage that Seymour had put it in. Riku grabbed it and raced back over to Kairi's side. "Please let this work," Riku said quietly as he placed the heart on Kairi. The heart sank in, and for a moment Kairi laid still. Had Riku been too late?  
Riku closed his eyes and said softly, "No... Kairi..." A tear fell from his eye and landed on Kairi. Behind him, Leon and Cloud were disappointed. They had worked so hard to get Kairi's heart back to have it fail now. They were not going to fail their friend. Cloud put his normal hand on Riku. "Riku, I might be able to bring her back," said Cloud. Riku looked at him. "How?" asked Riku.  
"With magic. Can you step back for a moment?" asked Cloud. Riku complied and stood next to Leon to watch what Cloud would do next. Cloud closed his eyes. -Aeris, please help me to save Riku's friend,- Cloud thought. Then Cloud opened his eyes and cast some magic on Kairi's still form. "Life!" Kairi started to move, and Cloud moved back so that Riku could be right beside her. "Kairi?" asked Riku.  
Kairi's eyes opened, and she looked at Riku. "Riku, is that you?" Kairi asked. Riku smiled softly. "Yes."  
"Where's Sora?"  
"He's with Wakka and Tidus. My friends helped me to find him as well as you."  
"That's good. Can I sleep, please? I'm very tired."  
"Of course."  
Kairi closed her eyes and slept. Riku gently picked her up and looked at Cloud and Leon. "Let's take her back to where Sora's at before we go and help our friends here. I don't want to put her in any more danger than she's already been in," said Riku.  
Leon nods. "That's a good idea, Riku. Stay between Cloud and me and let us do the fighting if any Heartless show up."  
Riku nodded, and they headed out of the Bastion and back to Besaid Island to leave Kairi in the care of Tidus and Sora before the final showdown began.  
  
Sora was with his friends, Tidus and Wakka, along with their friends awaiting on Riku to return from finding Kairi at Tidus' house when they heard a knock on the door. Tidus went to open the door, and there in the doorway holding Kairi in his arms, was Riku. Sora ran over to them. "Riku!" exclaimed Sora. Then he noticed Kairi. "Is Kairi okay?" asked Sora. Riku nodded. "Yes," said Riku. "She's just sleeping. Can you guys keep watch over her? I'm going to stop the Heartless at their source before any more trouble can happen." Sora nodded, and Riku handed him Kairi before heading back out with Leon and Cloud. Before he left tho, Riku looked at Sora still holding Kairi. "I'll be back after all this trouble is through. I promise you that," said Riku. Sora nodded. "I know you're going to be back, Riku. Good luck."  
With that, the party got back on the boat and headed back to Hollow Bastion for the final battle. They were going to stop the Heartless at all costs to protect their friends and to restore the other worlds taken over by the Heartless back to what they once were. 


	10. Arc 10: Dark Riku and Ansem

Chapter 15: A Dark Riku?  
Riku, Leon, and Cloud headed back inside the Bastion to try to find their friends, Belle and the Beast, to make sure that they managed to get away safely but found no sign of them. However, near the Keyhole of Hollow Bastion, they met the instigator of the Heartless invasion, Ansem, the man who first started studying the Heartless. He was getting ready to unleash the most powerful Heartless from the huge door with the Heartless Ensigna on it. Riku, Leon, and Cloud rushed forward to stop him, and Ansem waved his hand, and a massive black portal swallowed the party sending them back to someplace that Riku knew... someplace he saw destroyed during his fight with Darkside. Riku shook his head in disbelief. "This can't be possible..." Riku said shaking. Leon and Cloud blinked and looked at their friend. "Riku, what is it?" asked Leon. Riku looked at them. "This is... was... my home. The Destiny Islands, but while I was fighting Darkside, I saw it destroyed right before my very eyes..." Riku said with tears in his eyes. "How can it still be around?"  
The answer could be found in a figure that had their back to them and had suddenly appeared out of nowhere. Riku blinked. Whoever this was had the same hair color as he did but had on a much darker outfit than he did. Riku, Cloud and Leon behind him for backup, cautiously approached the figure. Before Riku could tap the figure on the shoulder to ask him who he was, the figured turned around, and Riku found himself face-to-face with a much darker version of himself that wore an outfit bearing the ensigna of the Heartless. Riku was no doubt shocked as was his friends.  
"Who are you?" demanded a very angry Riku. The Dark Riku sneered. "I am you," it stated. Riku shook his head. "There's no way I would've sided with the Heartless," said Riku. "Yes," said the Dark Riku, "you would've, but instead, you chose the path of light instead of the path of darkness, but there's still time to change your ways." Riku shook his head. "There's no way I'm going to change my ways to the ways of the Heartless!" Riku said as he grasped his Keyblade tightly. "I've sworn to defeat them to protect my friends, and that's how I'm going to keep it!"  
"Oh, really?" sneered the Dark Riku. "Then let's see which one of us is the strongest!" The Dark Riku held his hand up high, and a darkened Keyblade, the same one that Sora had when he was fighting alongside Sephiroth, appeared in the Dark Riku's hand. "Agreed!" said Riku. Cloud and Leon were going for their weapons, but Riku shook his head. "This is my fight. Once this is over, we can start looking for Ansem." Cloud nodded solemly. "Alright," said Cloud, "but be careful. I have a feeling he'll know all of your moves plus a few other tricks." Riku nodded and got into an attack posistion facing his dark counterpart.  
As soon as the battle began, the Dark Riku dashed in for an attack, but Riku was ready by casting Aeroga on himself to block the attacks. Riku then followed up the blocked attack with the Arc Arcanum causing some massive damage on the Dark Riku. The fight lasted a little bit longer, but in the end, Riku was victorious. However, the Dark Riku had one more card to play.  
As Riku was heading back to where Cloud and Leon were waiting on him, the Dark Riku used the last of his strength to send Riku into a darkened abyss. Leon and Cloud made a grab for Riku, but it was too little, too late. Riku was sucked inside of the abyss where he had to once again face an old foe before he could return to his friends...  
  
Riku slowly got up from his fall after getting sucked into the abyss created by the Dark Riku. "Damn, where am I?" Riku asked himself as he looked around. He didn't see anything until something started appearing from the darkness. It was Darkside, the very first boss that Riku had fought so long ago. However, Riku wasn't that weak anymore, and with a few swift combos, he managed to defeat Darkside. Then, the world around him went blank...  
  
"Riku? Riku, wake up!" said someone as they were shaking him. Riku's eyes blinked open. There was his friends, Cloud and Leon, worried looks on their faces, looking down at him. Riku looked at them. "Leon? Cloud? What happened?" Riku asked. Leon looked at him and explained. "Well, after you got sucked into that abyss, that darker version of you disappeared. We were searching for a way into the abyss to help you out but didn't have any luck. We thought we'd lost you, but then the abyss started to swell up before it exploded blinding Cloud and myself for a moment. When we could see again, you were lying still on the ground, and we rushed over to your side. We thought that you had been killed, but it was discovered that you had only been KO'ed momentarily, so we knew that you'd be waking up soon. Some Heartless then appeared and surrounded us obviously wanting to take advantage of the situation to try to steal your heart, but Cloud and I showed them a thing or two. So, what happened down there in that abyss?"  
"I ended up fighting Darkside again, but he was way too easy with all the new moves and spells that I had learned. I wonder why he was brought back?" asked Riku.  
  
"I believe I can answer that question, Keyblade master," said a sinister voice.  
  
Chapter 16: The Lord of the Shadows  
Cloud and Leon helped Riku to his feet and turned towards the voice. There, they saw someone who could almost be mistaken for Sephiroth's brother due to their similarities. However, the guy they were now looking at had on a white and black long coat, a white vest, black pants, and black knee-high boots. His chest was bare save for the Heartless Ensigna over where his heart would have been, and he was tan rather than pale like Sephiroth was. His red eyes glared coldly at the trio. The only other thing that was noticable about him was the menancing Shadow attached to him via his own shadow that almost seemed to stand guard over him.  
Riku glared at the guy. "Who are you?" Riku demanded.  
"WHO am I?" the guy said laughing. "I am Ansem, lord of Hollow Bastion and soon to be the Lord of the Shadows!" Riku grasped his Keyblade tightly. "Not if my friends and I have something to say about it!" said Riku. Cloud and Leon nodded together as they got their weapons out as well. Ansem laughed. "We shall see about that!"  
And so, the battle to save all the worlds from the darkness and the threat of the Heartless soon began. Riku and his friends started to attack Ansem, but he quickly counterattackked by sending his shadow guardian to attach itself to Riku. Now, if Riku tried to attack, the guardian would drain him of his energy. Riku had to think quickly and used magic instead of the Keyblade to attack Ansem. Soon, the shadow guardian deattached itself from Riku and went back over to Ansem. Riku was weakened slightly, but Cloud used Cure 2 on Riku to restore his strength, and Riku began attacking Ansem again with his friends. Even with the guardian attached to him and draining his strength, Riku found ways to attack thanks to the fact that Cloud used Regen on Riku to regain his energy even while it was getting drained while he was attacking. Cloud and Leon altenated attacking and healing Riku to make the team attacking flawless even if was Riku was getting hurt. When Ansem was down to half his life, he started to show his true power by letting his shadow guard do most of the attacking while he put a force shield up around himself to block any attacks from the weapons... any normal attacks, that is. Riku also had to be careful to not attack while the guardian was attached to him, as that would result in a double-team on him. Cloud and Leon found that if they used their abilities and limits, Ansem's shield couldn't stop them, and the possession time on Riku lasted much less when Ansem was being attacked than when he wasn't. A couple of times, Ansem would try to dash at Riku to attack him, but Riku had Aeroga cast on himself, so the attacks bounced off of him.  
The battle was drawing to a close, but Ansem had one more trick up his sleeve. He used dark portals to suck Cloud and Leon away sealing them in another dark world. The only way that Riku would be able to free his friends was to defeat the challenges that Ansem had set up. Then, the three of them could take out the so-called "Lord of Shadows" once and for all. 


	11. Arc 11: The Final Battle

Chapter 17: The Freeing of Cloud and Leon and the Final Battle  
The first challenge Riku had to face was a ship that had Ansem, his guardian shadow behind him, at the helm of it, or rather part of the ship itself. If Cloud had been there with Riku, he would have said that this reminded him of Sephiroth's second and third forms. Riku had to fly to dodge both the lazer attacks and Ansem's halberd attacks. A few quick combos later, and the first challenge was defeated.  
The next challenge had Riku sealed within a dark room filled with Shadows. The room was so dark, Riku couldn't see where to attack, so he had to be patient in order to win this challenge. Then, all he had to do to get out of the room was destroy the core, and he was freed.  
Next, Riku had to destroy the rows of Artillery that was growing on the sides of the massive ship. After he did that and healed himself with the HP and MP balls, he destroyed the massive guarding them all and flew into a portal that appeared in the Artillery's place.  
  
Riku landed inside another dark room wher he found Cloud trapped within it. Cloud was swinging every which way to try to destroy the Invisibles and Darkballs that were within the room but was having very little luck winning. Riku knew how to get out of this mess, and he had to let Cloud know before he ended up hitting him instead.  
"Cloud, over here!" called Riku. Cloud followed Riku's voice until he bumped into the Keyblade master. "Riku, am I glad to see you, if I could see you that is!" said Cloud. "After Ansem sucked me into this place, I've been having a hard time hitting the enemies inside here because of how dark it is!"  
"I know," said Riku, "but I've battled within a room similar to this one earlier. We have to be patient and let the Heartless come to us. It's a lot better than swinging, hittting nothing, and leaving yourself open."  
Cloud nodded, and the two of them stood back to back and waited on the Heartless to come to them. They didn't have to wait long. The Heartless, thinking that since they were used to the darkness had the upper advantage, rushed at the heroes. They were quickly put down with several combos from Riku and Cloud. Afterwards, the two of them took out the room core and were finally free of that dark prison but had yet another challenge to face.  
  
This time the challenge was the large Face of the guardian, but thankfully, for Cloud and Riku that is, they could fly up to attack it straight in the face but had to make sure that they were protected with magic from the Face's attacks. When the two of them got right up close and personal, Cloud and Riku unleashed their most powerful combos. Several more combos later, and the face was defeated. It opened up its mouth, and another portal could be seen. Cloud and Riku flew inside.  
Within this room, Leon was having the same problem Cloud had been having, only this time, the only Heartless that were in the room were Invisibles.  
"Leon, over here!" Cloud called. Leon followed Cloud's voice and bumped into Cloud and Riku. "Am I glad to see you two! Well, I would be if I could see you. How are we supposed to fight these if we can't see where they're at?" asked Leon.  
"We just have to be patient and keep each other's flanks guarded from attack. They think they have the upper advantage because we're in the dark, but if we make them think that, we'll win this fight and be out of her before you know it!" said Riku.  
"Gotcha. Let's do this!"  
The three of them stood back-to-back-to-back and faced off against the Heartless. Once again, the Heartless were fooled into thinking they had the advantage and were quickly defeated. Then together, the three of them destroyed the room core and were freed from the final dark room.  
The final challenge (or so they thought) was the Main Core of the ship. First, they had to get rid of all the Artillery surrounding the main core, unless they wanted to take a lot more damage then they had to, that is. They flew to the wings and took out the Artillery there. Then, they flew to the heart of the ship and took out the tenticle Artillery there. Now, all they had to do was to take down all of the bulbous Main Core's energy. This had been made a whole lot easier because they had taken out all of the Artillery surrounding the Main Core. The Main Core exploded bringing down the ship, and the trio thought they had finally won, but this wasn't the case.  
  
Ansem returned for one final battle, and this one would prove to be no more difficult than the first one or even the second one that Riku had to do by himself. However, they had to make sure and watch out for the new tricks that Ansem had, but in the end, the trio proved victorious. Now, the only problem was getting out of the World of Chaos before it collasped in on them, but Leon had the problem solved as he called on Bahamut to give them a ride out of there. They got out just in time as the World of Chaos imploded on itself. Now, they could finally head back to see their friends and rest out knowing that the Heartless were defeated... or were they? 


	12. Arc 12: Friends of the Heart

Chapter 18: Friends of the Heart  
Belle and the Beast had managed to make it to Besaid Island shortly before the big implosion happened that took away the Bastion as well. Aeris, who had went to check on Belle and the Beast also escaped with them and waited on Besaid Island along with Sora, Kairi, Tidus, Wakku, and their friends as they watched the Bastion collaspe inward on itself before finally disappearing. Sora and Kairi were worried. What had happened to Riku and his two friends? Had they been trapped within the rubble never to be seen again?   
Sora ran out to the dock facing the Bastion and cupped his hands around his mouth. "Riku! Riku, where are you?" called Sora, but no one answered. Sora, dejected, walked back slowly to the others. He was saddened that Riku wasn't coming back... or was he?  
Just then, Tidus saw something. "Hey, over there!" Tidus shouted and pointed. Sora looked. Above the imploded Bastion, a dragon flew. Sora looked at Tidus. "What's a dragon doing over the Bastion?" asked Sora.  
"That's not just any dragon," said Yuna. "That is Bahamut, the king of all dragons. He's been known to help out heroes when they call for them. I believe he helped to get our friends out of the Bastion before it imploded in on itself."  
"Really?!" Sora said and ran with the others to where the great dragon landed at. Two figures got off of the dragon, and one of them had someone in their arms. It was Leon, Cloud, and Riku! Riku was fast asleep in Leon's arms as he was worn out from the battle they had just finished. Sora looked at Leon. "Is Riku going to be okay?" asked Sora.  
"Yea," said Leon. "He just needs some rest. For a while there, he was on his own, but he proved his worth."  
Cid looked at both Cloud and Leon. "Don't worry about your friends," said Cid. "I brought them to this place since the worlds were pretty much damaged. Tidus and his buddies said they could stay here, and soon after the Heartless were defeated Cloud's friends revived and are here as well."  
Cloud and Leon were definately surprised and very happy. "That's great news," said Cloud. "And we all have Riku to thank for it," said Leon. "Without that Keyblade of his, none of this would have been possible."  
As Leon said that, the Keyblade changed once again. This time it shrunk down to the size of a pendant to disguise itself from any evil that might still be around. Cloud smiled, put the Keyblade on a chain, and fixed it around Riku's neck. He looked at the others. "Let's get him inside so he can rest out," said Cloud. Leon nodded and took him inside Tidus' house where he laid him down on the bed. Of course both wondered what had happened to Riku's Chocobo, but Cid explained that while they'd been gone, Tidus and the Aurochs had helped him to build a Chocobo pen outside the new home that they had built for Sora, Kairi, and Riku to live in. Leon nodded. "Tho his home might of been destroyed, Riku didn't lose one thing: his friends," said Leon. Cloud nodded. "It's something we all didn't lose."  
  
Sometime later, Riku woke up and looked around. "Am I back at Destiny Islands again?" he wondered. Just then, the door opened, and Cloud and Leon came inide. "Hey, Riku," said Leon. "Everyone's been wondering when you'd wake up. You slept for quite a while after that last battle."  
"Where is everyone?" asked Riku.  
"They're outside waiting for you to come on out," said Cloud. "Sora and Kairi have something to show you as well."  
"Okay, but I can't find the Keyblade anywhere... What happened to it?"  
"It shrunk to keep from being noticed by any more bad guys," said Leon. "We put it on a chain around your neck so you wouldn't lose it."  
"Thanks," said Riku. "Let's go see how Sora and Kairi are doing."  
  
They headed outside, and Riku was glad to see Kairi awake but not as glad as Sora and Kairi were to see that Riku was awake. "Riku!" said Sora. "Wait til you see what Tidus and his friends built us!"  
"It's not another raft, is it?" asked Riku. "I've had enough traveling for a while."  
Kairi giggled. "No, silly," said Kairi. "Come on with us." Riku followed them and was surprised to see that a new house had been built in Wakka's hometown. "Whose house is that?" asked Riku.  
"It's ours!" said Sora. "And check out what else they built!" Riku looked and saw that his Chocobo, Destiny, was in a Chocobo pen outside of the house. "Oh, wow!" said Riku. "Hey, Sora. Want to try out a game of Blitzball?"  
"Only if I get Wakka on my side," said Sora.  
"Okay," said Riku as he looked at Tidus. "What do you say, Tidus? Two on two?" Tidus grinned hugely. "Sounds good to me!" said Tidus. Riku looked at Sora. "Hey, Sora..." said Riku.  
"Yea, Riku?" asked Sora.  
"Last one to the beach loses!" Riku took off with Tidus and Wakka behind him. "Hey! No fair!" laughed Sora as he chased after them. "You guys got a head start!" Riku, Tidus, Wakka, and Sora all burst out laughing as did the others there. It was the end of a great adventure. Riku and his two friends Sora and Kairi once again had a place to call home as did his two new friends Cloud and Leon.  
  
However.... Within a distant part of the galaxy that their new home was in, a new threat began to stir... but that's a whole new story.  
  
THE END... FOR NOW 


End file.
